National Day: Hongkongers visit Shenzhen for shopping and 60cm egg tarts

Hongkongers flocked across the border on National Day for grocery shopping, massages and the chance to buy giant 60cm-long egg tarts, citing lower prices and a wider variety of leisure activities.

Immigration figures showed that about 69,000 residents had left Hong Kong by 10am on Thursday, while the city had already welcomed about 74,000 mainland Chinese visitors.

At the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point, crowds of Hongkongers gathered in the morning to head north, while mainland visitors travelled in the opposite direction to celebrate the first day of their National Day “golden week” break.

Among those heading to Shenzhen was Lina Li, a 58-year-old retiree who regularly visits the mainland city twice a month.

Li said she and several friends were making a one-day trip for the National Day holiday, adding that she planned to spend more than HK$1,000 (US$127) on food, a massage and a head spa session, all booked in advance.

“I really enjoy the services here,” she said. “A massage in Hong Kong can cost over HK$700, but in Shenzhen I can get a really good one for about HK$300. A head spa can be as cheap as around HK$100, which you do not often find in Hong Kong.”

Li also brought a small trolley with her and said she would pick up things that took her fancy, from bakery goods to groceries.

Also travelling to Shenzhen was Hong Kong resident Rose Crut, along with her husband and their two sons. She said the family were only doing a day trip to Futian, as the boys had school the next day.

The family arrived in Shenzhen at around 11am and planned to have lunch at a shopping centre in Futian district near the checkpoint.

Crut said the mainland city was a great place for a family day out. “There’s so much to see and do, and the shopping is really convenient,” she said.

Her husband brought along a large suitcase, as the couple hoped to stop by warehouse store Costco in Longhua district and had set a budget of about HK$2,000.

“We come here quite often, on average four times a year, but sometimes once a month – it really depends,” said Crut, who is originally from Mexico and has lived in Hong Kong with her family for 10 years.

Some Hongkongers also travelled to Shenzhen to catch special events during the public holiday.

“I came to Shenzhen last night and plan to eat and shop around the malls, take pictures with my friends to celebrate the holiday together”, said a woman surnamed Chiu.

Chiu said she and her friends had already spent a night at the Hilton Hotel in Futian and had picked the district because one of them wanted to buy a new car at the Shenzhen International Auto Show 2026, which runs from this Thursday to Monday next week at the nearby Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre.

“I don’t have a specific amount to spend in Shenzhen. I’ll just buy everything I like,” she said.

Over at a shopping centre connected to Futian’s Exhibition Centre train station, large crowds could be seen flooding into the mall.

Shoppers wheeled suitcases of all sizes through the crowds, squeezing past vendors and promoters who called out in Cantonese to draw them in.

Trolleys rattled across the floors, shopping bags rustled and queues formed outside popular restaurants, shops and massage parlours. Some even queued outside bakeries selling 60cm-long egg tarts, which have become a recent trend on the mainland.

A bakery worker surnamed Chen said that, judging by conversations with customers, most of those buying the long egg tarts were from Hong Kong and were attracted by the novelty of the product.

“Some will even take photos with our poster after they bought them,” Chen added.

Another shop said it had been baking the special egg tarts all day without stopping, selling at least “hundreds of boxes by the afternoon”.

A Hong Kong bank employee, who gave her surname as Choi, said she was taking her mother and son to Shenzhen for an extended weekend, and had taken an extra day off on Friday.

“The weather is really hot in Hong Kong. And even though there are also events and promotions back home, we just do not want to stay as we’ve already been to those scenic spots like Disney and Ocean Park many times,” she said.

The family said they would spend one night in the city before heading to Zhongshan for the weekend.

“We want to use this holiday as a staycation, to just be chill,” Choi said. “Just like a lot of Hongkongers do, even more Hong Kong stars have now moved to Zhongshan.”